The want of control in the shipment of these immigrants in the Indian ports led to abuse; for vessels took a much larger amount of persons than they had room for on board, and the natural consequence was that disease was created on board of the vessels, and numbers of the coolies perished on the voyage to this El Dorado of the native of India.
At this time the Imperial Government and the Government of India wisely stepped in, and for a time stopped a system of immigration which at that time was creating a great amount of suffering, both to the lately-emancipated negro, and also to the native of India endeavouring to better his condition by proceeding to the Mauritius.
But on its being fairly shown that the ex-apprentices could not be brought back to field labour—which they looked upon as a mark of that abject slavery from which they had just been released, and that their labour found employment in other channels, the Imperial Government, after having stopped this labour for four years, namely from 1838 to 1842—removed the prohibition on the introduction of Indians. During this prohibition, the staple product of the island, viz., sugar, declined from 39,559 tons in 1840 to 36,542 tons in 1842.
Since the prohibition of the introduction of Indian labourers in 1842 was removed, the produce of agricultural industry in this colony has been regular and rapid, the increase of the productions of the soil being in proportion to the introduction of labourers as follows:—
| Year. | No. of Indians in the Colony. | Sugar Exported. | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Males. | Females. | lbs. | |
| 1842 | 18,105 | 888 | 73,082,177 |
| 1857 | 107,072 | 35,452 | 229,321,468 |
and also in nearly the same proportion during the intermediate years.
Mauritius has suffered from more than one crisis in the money-market during the last twenty years, which may be fairly traced to the cessation of immigration from 1838 to 1843, as well as to the modification and equalization of the duties on foreign sugar, in 1842 and 1846. The last crisis, that of 1847-8, proved so violent as to completely annihilate some houses connected with large London firms, who had been led to advance considerable sums of money in the hope of eventually obtaining returns from the estates they were supporting. Since this last crisis there has been less speculation, and estates are said to have been managed with more economy than formerly. I was told that they are now better cultivated, and, from the introduction of superior machinery, the manufacture of sugar is more economical.
The introduction of guano has done wonders for this island; for by the use of it in the wet districts, where the soil is of a cold clayey nature, land formerly deemed unfitted for the culture of the sugar-cane has become some of the most fertile in the island.
The increase of production and consumption, added to the large immigration of native labour from India, has given employment to an increased number of shipping; while the repeal of the navigation laws in 1850 threw the ports of this small colony open to the vessels of all nations.